Candy-coating machine.



W. FRITZ.

CANDY CCATING MACHINE.

e APPLICATION FILED APR. 30, 1913. 1,090,608. Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

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APPLATON FILED APB.. 30, 1913. n 1,090,608. Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

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ATTORNEYS IIIIIIIII LANOGRAPH Co..wAsH|Nn'mN. D. c.

MUTE@ STATES FATENT FFCE.

CANDY-COATING MACHINE.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1"?, 1914s.

Application led April 39, 1913. Serial No. 764,508.

T all whom it may concer-a `Be it known that I, WILLiAn FRITZ, a citizenof the United States, residingin the city and county of Philadelphia,State of Pennsylvania, have invented a newy and useful Candy-CoatingMachine, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a candy coating machine which isespecially adapted to be employed to coat blanks of material withchocolate, and consists of novel receiving mechanism, a novelconstruction of aw conveyer for conveying the blanks between the coatingmechanism, a novel discharging mechanism, novel means for securingstrips of material to said discharg P ing mechanism, and novelcontrolling` means for such mechanism.

It further consists of a novel construction of a conveyer having coilsp-ring' cables and novel means for intermittently agitating and-shaking the same and varying the amount of such agitation or shaking.

It further consists of a novel coating feeding mechanism `whereby thecoating material is first discharged against the upper and under side ofthe blanks to be coated, and afterward an additional supply of coatingmaterial is discharged against the upper ends of the blanks, novel meansbeing provided for controlling the amount of chocolate passing throughsaid feeding mechanism.

It further consists of a novel manner of mounting the discharge conduitsfor theV coating material and novel means for reciprocating oroscillating the same, in order to decorate the blanks.

It further consists of novel means for causing predetermined springcables to travel in a different plane from the other cables.

It further consists of a novel construction of a casing, whereby thecoating material is maintained at a proper temperature, and a novelconstruction of a pumping mechanism for the coat-ing material.

Other features of advantage and of construction will hereinafter moreclearly appear in the detail description of my inven` tion.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, l have shown in theaccompanying drawings a preferred form thereof which is atpresentpreferred by me, since the same will give in practicesatisfactory and reliable the various instrumentalities of which myinvention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that myinvention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization ofthese instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation partly in section of a candycoating machine emside elevation of a portion thereof, showing certainparts of the driving mechanisms. Fig. 3 represents a plan view of mydevice. Fig. '-l represents a sectional elevation of a portion of Fig.1, on line thereof. Fig. 5 represents, in perspective, a view of aportion of the discharging mechanism. Fig. 6 represents a perspectiveview of a portion of the discharge conveyer. Fig. 7 represents a sectionon line y/-y/ of Fig. Fig. 8 represents a side elevation of a portion ofmy device. Fig. 9 represents a sectional view of a portion of thedischarge conveyer, showing more clearly the manner in which strips ofmaterial are detachably connected therewith. Fig. 10 represents a planview of the blank conveyer, certain parts thereof having been removed.Fig. l1 represents a plan view on an enlarged scale of a portion of aspring' cable, seen in Figs. 1, 3, 10 and 12. Fig. 12 represents a sideelevation partly broken away, showing more clearly certain details ofconstruction.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in thefigures.

Referring to the drawings :-The receiving mechanism comprises standards1 in which are mounted journals 2. provided with adjusting devices 3whereby the roller 4L, mounted in `said journals 2, may be laterallyadjusted when desired.

5 designates the receiving conveyer which comp-rises an apron passingaround the roller 4 and also around the roller 6 carried by a casing 7supported in any desired manner. The roller 4 has the shaft thereofprovided with a gear 8 which meshes with a gear 9, supported in anydesired manner, and actuated by a connecting rod 10, provided with a pin11 adapted to engage the walls of a slot 12 of a coupling 13, whichlatter is p-rovided with a slot 14 in which is seated a pin 15, carriedby a shaft 1G.

17 designates a link adapted to give longitudinal movement to thecoupling 13, said link being pivoted to a lever 18, which is tresults,although it is to be understood that` bodying my invention. Fig. 2represents a fulcrumed at 19 to the casing 7. It will thus be seen thatthe coupling 13 serves to interlock the shafts 16 and 10 upon theactuation of the lever 18.

The numeral 20 designates a link operatively connected with a coupling21 keyed upon the shaft 16, whereby said coupling interlocks with thegear 22 loosely mounted on said shaft 16, and meshing with a gear 23.This gear 23 is connected with a sprocket wheel 24 around which passes asprocket chain 25, said sprocket chain also passing around the sprocketwheel 26 on the main driving shaft 27, said sprocket chain 25 alsopassing around a sprocket wheel 28, carried by a clutch 29, as will bebest understood by reference to Fig. 3. The clutch 29 is actuated by acrank 30 carried by a lever 30, in order to interlock with the drivingroller 31, which is preferably grooved and rotatably carried by thecasing 7, and adapted to drive a conveyer of a novel construction, whichis preferably constructed of a series of cables 32, which, as best seenin Fig. 11, are preferably constructed of coil springs united to formendless cables, any desired number of which may be employed. The lever30 is pivoted by a separate bolt 31', also having pivotal connectionwith the link 20. It is thus seen that when the outer end of the lever3() is swung to the right, couplings 21 and 29 will be moved to theirinner or active positions. The cables 32 receive the blanks dischargedthereon from the conveyer 5 and pass around upper rolls 33, which arepreferably grooved and adjustably carried by the casing 7. The cables 32also pass around a roller 34 carried by the casing 7. The r'olls 33 arestationary and are carried by ad justing devices 35 which have in thepresent instance threaded engagement with the casing 7, it beingunderstood that the cables 32 travel in the grooves of the rolls33. Inorder to cause blanks of large size to travel in a straight line, Iprovide means for raising predetermined cables 32 to cause them totravel in a plane higher than the hori- Zontal plane of the othercables, and in order to show one manner of accomplishing this result Ihave shown rods 36 having adjustable thereon by means of set screws 37,pulleys 38. The shafts or rods 36 are mounted in journals 39, which arevertically adjusted by means of the .set screw 40.

In order to provide means for vibrating Vthe conveyer formed by thecables 32, in

order to remove any excess of coating ma terial from the blank, Iprovide a rod 41 passing beneath the upper stretch of the cables 32 andcarried by brackets 42, which are mounted in the guides 43 so as topermit their vert-ical movement therein and are connected with levers44, fulcrumed at 45 to the casing 7. One end of the levers 44 is adaptedto travel on the wipers or cams 46,

Y 83 provided mounted on a shaft 47, which latter is provided with gears48, meshing with gears 49 rotating in unison with theroller 34. In orderto vary the amount of vibration or shaking imparted to the cables 32, Iprovide adjusting screws 50, having threaded engagement with lugs 51carried by the casing 7, said adjusting screws engaging the ends j ofthe levers 44.V

The casing 7 is provided with an inner container 52, thereby forming achamber 53 adapted to receive a heating or cooling medium which may beinserted therein through the port 54 and discharged therefrom throughthe controllable conduit 55. lIhe driving shaft 27, which extends intothe container 52, has mounted thereon a sleeve 56 provided with bladesor paddles 57, which serve to stir and mix the coating material. Thisshaft 27 also has mounted thereon a sprocket wheel 58, see Figs. 4 and8, around which passes a sprocket chain 59, which latter also passesaround a sprocket wheel 60, which is adapted to interlock with a clutch61, controlled by a lever 62. The sprocket wheel 60 is loosely mountedon a stud shaft 64 extending from the piston 63, while the clutch 61 iskeyed to this stud shaft 64, which latter is seen in Fig. 4. Therotating piston 63 is slotted as at 65 to receive a piston blade 9 66freely movable therein and adapted to engage the walls of the pistonchamber 67, which communicates by means of a port 68 with the coatingcontainer 52.

69 designates a discharge port having a controlling valve 70.

71 designates a discharge conduit communicating with the chamber 67 andwith a laterally extending conduit 72, the contour of which will be bestunderstood by reference to Fig. 4. This discharge conduit 72 issubstantially U-shaped and provided with a slot 73 which extends aroundthe conduit 72 on the under periphery of the upper portion thereof, andthe upper periphery of the lower portion thereof, the end of saidconduit 72 being provided with a valve sleeve 74 having a port 75adapted to register with the port 76 in the conduit 72, when the sleeve74 is rotated by means of the handle 77. The sleeve 74 is provided witha projection 78 which abuts against the conduit 71 and serves to alinethe ports 75 and 76. rIhe conduit 72 is provided with a desired numberof conduits 79 which communie-ate by means of flexible connections 8Owith conduits 81 having discharge portsV at their end on the under side.thereof asat 82, said ports being controlled by means of a sleeve iwith adjusting vmeans 84, such as for example a set screw. Theseconduits 81 are seated in slots 85 of a bar 86 mounted in journals 87,so as to reciprocate therein.

88 designates a spring interposed between a journal 87 and a washerI89`on the bar 86.

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The bar 86 is provided Witlra roller 90 WhichV cooperates With a cam 91,carried by a pinion 92, which meshes with a gear 93 on the shaft 16.

94 designates a clutch adapted to interlock With a pin 95 on the shaft16 and With a pin 96 on a connecting rod 97, said clutch 94 beingcontrolled by means of a lever 98. The connecting rod 97 is adapted toactuate a gear 99 meshing With a gear 100, which is operativelyconnected with a roller 101, mounted in journals 102, carried bystandards 103, said journals 102 being laterally adjusted by means ofthe Screws 104.

105 designates a discharge conveyer which passes around the roller 101and around the roller 106 journaled in the4 casing 7. The conveyer 105is provided With cross strips 107 having the front portion 108, upwardlydeflected to form between such portion 108 and the conveyer 105 a spaceadapted to receive the end or tongue 109, of a strip 110, such as forexample paper, on to which the coated blanks are discharged, it beingunderstood from F ig. 5 that the adjacent strip 111 preferably laps overthe strip 110 in order to prevent the coating material from touching theconveyer 105.

The operation of my novel coating machine is as follows: The articles tobe coated are placed on the conveyer 5, it being understood that thelever 18 has been actuated to operatively connect the shafts 10 and 16With the driving shaft 27, Which latter is driven by any desired sourceof power the same being shown in the present instance as provided withpulleys 112. The articles or blanks pass from the conveyer 5 to thecables 82 which cause such blanks to travel between the U-shaped conduit72, so that a stream of coating material, such as, for eX- ample,chocolate is presented to opposite sides of the blank. The amount ofchocolate passing to the blanks may be controlled by actuating thehandle 77, Which permits the chocolate to return to the container 52 ifdesired, thereby varying the amount of chocolate passing to the slot 73.The cables 82 are intermittently vibrated or shaken, since the Wiper 46vvill raise one end of the levers 44, and as the ends of such levers 44are released the cables 32 Will be vibrated to remove the excess ofcoating material on the blanks to cause the excess to return to thecontainer 52. By adjusting t-he set screws 50, the amount of vibrationmay be adjusted, as desired.

ln some cases arising in practice it is advantangeous to decorate thetop of the blanks or to place an additional thickness of coatingmaterial thereon, in Which case the conduits 81 are employed, althoughit is to be understood that the same are not essential in all cases andmay be dispensed With.

The conduits 81 may be Wholly removed and the branch conduits 79 pluggedup or the sleeves 83 may be adjusted to close the ports 82 or to openthe same to any desired eX- tent. If the ports 82 are open as the blankstravel therebeneath they will receive an additional supply of coatingmaterial. 1f desired, this additional supply of coating may bedischarged on to the blanks in an irregular mannerdue to the cam 91reciprocating in the shaft 86 Which carries the conduit 81. By removingthe cam 91 this reciprocating feature of the shaft 86 may be dispensedWith. The strips of paper or other material are secured to the dischargeconveyer in such a manner that they may be readily detached after thecoated blanks have been placed thereon. i l

It Will be apparent that the receiving conveyer may be renderedinoperative by actuating the handle 18 and the discharge conveyer 105may be rendered inoperative by actuating the lever 98. Thepump ismanually controlled by the lever 62 While the 'movement of the cables 32is manually controlled by the lever 80.

Special attention is directed to the novel construction and manner ofoperation of the spring cables 32, and the novel manner of distributingthe coating material With 'respect to the blanks to be coated.

It Will noul be apparent that I have devised a novel and usefulconstruction of a 'candy coating machine, which embodies the features ofadvantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention andthe above description, and While I have, in the present instance, shownand described a preferred embodiment thereof which will give in practicesatisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that the sameis susceptible of modification in various particulars Without departingfrom the spirit 'or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of itsadvantages.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is :h

1. 1n a coating machine, a plurality of spaced laterally alined endlessbelts formed of coil springs, means to effect the longitudinal travel ofthe endless belts, means for retaining portions of certain of theendless belts in a different horizontal plane from correspondingportions of the other endless belts, and means to supply coatingmaterial to the articles carried -by the endless belts.

2. A coating machine comprising a plurality of spaced laterally alinedendless belts formed entirely of coil springs, means to verticallyvibrate the endless belts, and means for supplying coating material tothe articles upon the endless belts.

3. A coating machine comprising a plurality of spaced laterally alinedendless belts formed of coil springs, means to effect a longitudinaltravel of the endless belts, pulleys engaging portions of certain of theendless belts, means to vertically adjust the pulleys, and means tosupply a coating material to the articles upon the endless belts.

4. In a coating machine, a conveyer comprising laterally alined springcables, means to impart a travel to said conveyer, a U- shaped dischargeconduit between the arms of Which said conveyer travels and having aslot through its inner Wall on both sides of said conveyer, and means tofeed coating material to said discharge conduit.

5. In a coating machine, a conveyer comprising laterally alined springcables, means 'to impart a travel to said conveyer, a U- shapeddischarge conduit between-the arms of'ivhich said conveyer travels andhaving a slot through its inner Wall on both sides of said conveyer',means to feed coating material to said discharge conduit, means toregulate the amount of coating material passing through said slot,devices to agitate said cables, and means to vary the amount ofagitatio-n imparted to said cables.

6. In a coating machine, a conveyer comprising laterally alined springcables, a bar passing beneath said cable, means to intermittently raiseand lower said bar, coating mechanism descharging coating materialtoward opposite sides of said conveyer, means to impart a travel to saidconveyer, and devices fo-r causing predetermined cables to travel in adifferent plane from that of the other cables.

7. In a coating machine, a conveyer com- 'prising laterally alinedspaced cables, means to impart a travel thereto, a U-shaped dischargeconduit having a slot through its inner wall, and a discharge port atone end, a valve controlling said discharger port, and means to feedcoating materiall to said U- shaped conduit. l y

8. A coating machine, comprising an endless belt conveyer provided Withopenings, means to impart a longitudinal travel to the conveyer, asubstantially U-shaped discharge conduit between Which a portion of theconveyer travels, said substantially U-shaped conduit being providedupon its inner Wall on both sides of a portion ofthe conveyer Withoutlet means, means to supply coating material to said conduit, andmeans to apply a second coating to the previously coated materialembodying conduits connected with said substantially U-shaped dischargeconduit.

9. In a coating machine, a conveyer for the articles 'to be coated, aU-shapedV discharge conduit between which said conveyer passes andhaving a slot extending longitudinally around its inner Walls, andprovided With a discharge port at one end, a valve to control saiddischarge port, and means to feed coating material at a predeterminedtemperature vinto said discharge conduit.

VILLIAM FRITZ.

Witnesses H. S. FAIRBANKs, C. D. MCVAY.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of ratentsA Washington, D. C. l

